May 2011

05/24/2011

Cambria has a wonderful restaurant named Robin's that we all love to visit. This is a photo of it's sweet sign. They have a wonderful outdoor garden and the interior decor is vintage cottage style. The menu has something for everyone's taste. For me however it is always about the garden and family. Lunching with family plus adding in a lovely garden to the mix will always get me to follow my bliss on a sunny Central Coast afternoon. Since the Storybook cottage is our sometimes home, we do our day to day living closer to work. This past weekend, I noticed a robin doing a lot of visits to a nearby tree. When I gave it a closer look, this is what I found.

Curious for a closer look.....

This is what was hiding. So this is a true robin's egg blue! Mr. and Mrs. Robin wanted me out of their home and flew at me. I hope to get a picture when the eggs hatch.

This is where dad sat while I did the rest of my watering on Saturday.

See that little bird on the grass beyond the swing! He never stopped watching me water. Where's the trust? Tomorrow we leave for the Storybook house and our gardeners will be in the garden on Saturday. I will post a Do Not Disturb sign on this tree. I so do want these little robin's eggs to hatch!

I found another surprise here.

This is a finch's nest. I had this bag leaning against the wall. I watched a small bird in the corner for weeks thinking it was just going about the business of being a little bird.

Springtime surprises make the best gifts! Hugs....

I'm linking up to Wow Us Wednesday today and can't wait to meet all of you...Thanks for the invitation Kim:)

05/17/2011

This past April I visited my daughter, Christina and her family in Minnesota. She is a working artist. This is a photo of her studio. It is located in the Northrup King Building in Minneapolis. If you would like to see more of her paintings, you can go take a look at her blog.

On the second day of our visit it snowed 10 inches. I hadn't seen snow fall in years so for me I was thrilled. However only up to the time I tried to help Christina dig out.

Christina's colorful paintings are often a reflection of her own life as mother, wife, and working artist. This is an example of one of her paintings. This paintings hangs in our entry way. I feel that it says something about my life today. This lady sits surrounded by her flower garden and often I do the same in our garden.

This is my grandson Ryan. He painted this painting in a Saturday art class. Christina was his teacher. She gave the students a limited palette. This way the kids can keep it fresh.

Ryan loves to paint and draw. He gave this painting of sunflowers to me when we arrived. We shipped it in a special box for paintings of this size and had it framed at Michaels.

I will always treasure this painting! Thank you Ryan...hugs and kisses

05/13/2011

This is our dog Jennie. She is a Golden Retriever and in love with the world! She doesn't hide the fact. Just last night I hosted my book club. She moaned with joy as each guess arrived. You would think that she never receives a hug in this household with her over the top welcoming behaviors. I'm always apologizing with a so sorry and if you turn around she will leave you alone...I promise. So it goes each time we have a guest.

One of her greatest loves are the kids next door. As we leave our home in the morning for her daily walk, she eyes our neighbors home with hope that the kids will come out and give her a hello. Sadly most times they aren't exiting. If it were up to Jennie, she would have left me long ago to live next door. Jennie is like our family mayor always ready to make all feel welcome.

Ike my son's dog is her favorite dog friend and she loves it when he visits.

Would you believe we are on a dog walk! I've begun to bring treats so that I can get her home. Jennie likes to rest along the way. Most dogs pull their owners. We pull Jennie. Must mention that she wears a "Gentle Leader." Sometimes people will ask me if it is like a muzzle. A "Gentle Leader" is a training device not a muzzle. Jennie can open her mouth very wide. It is added onto her leash and helps to guide her without putting any stress on her neck.

When Ike and my son John are along we don't need the treats. Besides this is Cambria and with lots of new smells and Ike no need for owner treats!

When I arrive home from all of my outings I have to hop over her each time with bags of groceries or whatever. Jennie doesn't move. I think it is her way of getting me back for leaving her at home!

When we first took her to the vacation home, she became like the peanut butter next to the bread. The bread being my husband and she the peanut butter. She now understands that this is her other home and isn't as fearful. We have to hop over her in this home also.

Man's best friend and ours too.

Before we decided to have Jennie join our family, I remember reading a how to pick the right dog for your family type book. There it was spelled in bold letters at the very beginning of this book. "Don't forget they are only with us for a short time." So it goes...lets make each day count with our furry friends. I plan on enjoying all the warm hellos and kisses Jennie can hand out because I love her and she loves me and the neighbors too!

I'd like to dedicate my Jennie Love story to the memory of "Beethoven" the cat. This sweet cat belonged to Donna at Funky Junk Interiors. Saying good-bye to a sweet pet friend is so very hard. I do believe they never leave us and that makes remembering them a little less painful because of the memories.

05/11/2011

When I think of home, I see all the colors of the rainbow in my garden. Last week I hung out with my traveling hubby in Melbourne, Australia. Let me warn you, it is a very long trip. If you can get an aisle seat do it! All that matters on long flights is bathroom possibilities. Being taken hostage by a young lad who gains the aisle seat is a disaster! Once home again seeing how my little garden had grown somehow gave me great joy and peace. Security is tight when traveling international. I was pulled aside twice for a full body search. I'm a 62 year old caucasian lady. So get ready if you travel overseas to be humbled. Home sweet home.....how hard can it be? We all need to do our part? However a full body search was a surprise to me. I will travel to London in June. We will not choose LAX. Security at LAX is aggressive or is it that they are trained poorly? I'm not certain. They seemed frightened. So......time to let it go. Australians are relaxed and friendly. I loved my visit because of them. I picked up a nice cottage decorating magazine at the airport in Sydney. I can never leave without the taste of international cottage decor. The bonus is that it is written in English. Unlike USA, when they do country the animals are included as in chickens and sheep! I've begun to wish for a chicken and a pet sheep. My son, Daniel thinks this is weird. He, he... I'm wondering if my sweet Jennie wouldn't mind.